Foreigners looking for "safe" in Iraq, what will the government do?

Foreigners looking for "safe" in Iraq, what will the government do?

 2017/8/28 09:06:14 AM


While the Iraqi government is working to legislate the laws and create the appropriate ground to provide a "safe" environment to convince foreign investors to come and work in Iraq, in the hope that this will be reflected positively on the economic and social development of its various components. There are influential parties that call investment companies monopoly companies that try to To absorb the blood of peoples, many of them fear the size of political risks and instability due to conflicts in Iraq.

The fragility of the security situation in Iraq after the occupation has also contributed to the diversion of Iraqi capital abroad to seek a safer environment, and the emigration of many scientific competencies, in addition to the dominance of the oil sector in all other exporting commodity sectors. Iraqi exports.

The Ministry of Planning, said that the recent security decline, no matter how simple, it will reflect negatively on the desire of investors to enter the Iraqi market. The spokesman for the ministry Abdul-Zahra al-Hindawi, in a press statement, "The reasons for the reluctance of foreign investors not limited to the recent security decline, Also the government bureaucracy, which hindered the entry of many of these companies. "

In the center of international projects and in cooperation with the Institute of Economic Reform, a seminar was held to discuss ways to eliminate corruption and promote a comprehensive development revolution. "Corruption is a stumbling block in the face of economic development, because the Iraqi state, in spite of the need to undermine corruption and create an ideal working environment, attracts international investment," he said. He added that the country is required to return to its regional and international environment. Iraq is an important part of the world.

Fitch awarded Iraq the B + rating because of the size of political risks and instability due to its conflicts, with a positive outlook for its future, which it believes will be stable, even though it is waging a war against an oppressive organization, but noted that the positive outlook for the situation of Iraq Will have a positive impact among investors who are afraid to pump their money into it.

But observers note that foreign capital is still moving away from Iraq for a variety of reasons, including those related to the security situation, including the bureaucracy and official routine, including related to administrative corruption and even excesses of political parties.

This has prevented the growth of private investments within the economy, thus reducing the possibility of creating new jobs, and unemployment rates have increased to 50% among young people.

In October 2006, the Iraqi parliament approved the Iraqi Investment Law, which was said to be open to foreign investment because it offered many facilities to foreign investors. However, many foreign companies remain hesitant because of their fear of the unstable security situation. Iraq, in addition to that the law did not give investors the right of ownership of real estate for the project, and between the Iraqi investor and foreign in all privileges, except property ownership, as the foreign investor can lease the land for 50 years renewable.

The consultant in industrial development and investment member of the Baghdad Economic Forum, Amer Issa Jawahery, said that the alliance and partnership between public and private sector institutions in Iraq and with local and foreign financial institutions and joint projects, will enhance the chances of achieving a developmental renaissance and creating economic recovery, Improving the business environment, increasing productive enterprises in all sectors, improving their participation in GDP and in the competitiveness of the economy, and thus the country's attractiveness to investment.

He stressed that attracting foreign direct investment to Iraq requires the identification of a certain number of priority projects for the economy and society, with careful diagnosis of the site and the preservation and allocation of land and the formation of an executive team for each project is responsible for collecting information and answer inquiries and promotion and advertising, Investment companies should take a general idea of ​​the working environment and surrounding environment.

In this regard, Iraqi officials revealed the completion of an integrated plan to open the door to investment in front of foreign and Arab companies in various sectors, with the assistance of American economists visiting Iraq now, according to them, the plan aims to reconstruct the areas destroyed by the fighting with the organization of a call, To revive the economy of the country, which suffers from the collapse of its financial resources.

The plan, according to an official source for the "One News", the Iraqi government will put about 5 thousand investment opportunities before businessmen and companies, and extend the investment contract from 25 to 50 years, and exempt investors tax and customs and the proportion of Iraqi employment in the project.

The plan also includes the privatization of a number of projects in the electricity sector, telecommunications, tourism and government factories, and opening up areas in the sectors of tourism, health and education, as a disclosure of the presence of British, Chinese, Turkish, Iranian and Arab companies, including UAE and Egypt interested in investing in Iraq.

In accordance with the plan, the Iraqi government is committed to providing an appropriate security environment for investors by working to protect the security of the investor and the company at the workplace and beyond.

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